[SPORTS] Mane and Salah spat

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has suggested that the feud between Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah which reared its head at Burnley had been “gathering for months”.

A trip to Turf Moor proved to be more eventful than the Reds had planned.

Jurgen Klopp’s side eased their way to a 3-0 win, but it was Mane’s outburst aimed towards team-mate Salah when substituted in the second half which dominated the headlines.

Carragher, though, believes that frustration may have been simmering for some time.

Salah is considered to have a selfish streak, with that praised by the likes of Robbie Fowler, and a former Reds favourite feels Mane may have taken issue with that a while back.

“The more issues fester, the more you are parking the problem for a later date,” Carragher said in The Telegraph.

“The disagreement earlier this season between Liverpool strikers Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah comes into the same category.

“There is no way Mane lost his head solely because he did not receive a few passes against Burnley. His frustration will have been gathering for months, ensuring it only needed a trigger to bring it into the open.

“Jurgen Klopp is not a manager who allows his players to dwell on any negative issue so I strongly suspect he will have discussed it with both players.

“Ironically, I felt Mane was too unselfish in the Champions League game against Napoli in midweek, trying to pass to Salah when he should have been going alone. 

“So long as these disagreements are isolated and issues swiftly resolved they do not cause a problem.

“Where managers do become wary is if cliques form, sides are taken and personalities clash to such an extreme it becomes detrimental to the unity and spirit within the camp. 

“The Liverpool managers I worked under would never let that happen.”

Klopp swept the incident under the carpet at the time and both Mane and Salah have sought to see the funny side since.

There appears to be no disruptive rift between the pair, with Liverpool needing both to toe the line and play their part in aiding the collective cause again this season – having claimed a share of the Golden Boot and Champions League winners’ medals in 2018-19.